The theobromine molecule is your friend.
The second myth is that chocolate drinks are always a sweet treat. The fact is, chocolate drinks can vary from no sweetness whatsoever, to perfectly sweetened to complement the chocolate. Chocolate drinking has a long, convoluted 5000-plus year history, which I’m not going to get into here, but simply put, it was first consumed as an unsweetened drink with the addition of various spices, and was so for a vast majority of its history. Sweetening chocolate for drinking only came around the 17th century and has never looked back.
These freaking guys...
As chocolate makers we obviously could not leave well enough alone. So we devised a menu that pares down the spectacle of the typical Canadian hot chocolate experience to offer a set of wholesome, dignified, and restorative elixirs. To do this we use our pure house ground chocolate, made right here, from scratch, from cacao beans. None of these hot chocolates use cacao powder and here' why. First, we don’t make our own cacao powder. Cacao powder is the result of a heavy industrial process that's impossible to do here in our factory. Secondly, cacao powder has had almost all the cacao butter pressed out, but we relish the presence of naturally occurring cacao butter in our chocolate drinks because it balances the sweetness more effectively and results in drink with a velvety mouthfeel.
Our chocolate drink menu design celebrates all the possibilities, whether pure unsweetened chocolate, lovely milk-based chocolate drinks, and even goes to the brink of chocolate madness with a silky shot of liquid chocolate. Here are our top 5:
Black/Noir. This is a hot chocolate with either 67.5% or 74% chocolate made with hot water. The chocolate flavour is immediate and intense. Since this is made simply with water, the chocolate’s single origin profile is in sharp focus.
Cacao-latte. This is a milk-based hot chocolate made with either 67.5% or 74% chocolate. This is a well-balanced, time-honoured hot chocolate. The chocolate-in-milk alchemy can be fully appreciated here. This can also be made with oat milk.
Cacao-ccino. This is also a milk-based hot chocolate but featuring a higher dose of either 67.5% or 74% chocolate. Also, a classic hot chocolate, but the extra boost tips the scale in favour of the chocolate. An oat milk version is also delicious.
Drinking chocolate. This is a feverish hit of chocolate. Served in a demi-tasse, this water based, pure, ultra-satisfying chocolate experience where the chocolate tasting profile is emphasized, from low brooding tones, to the mid fruity notes, to the divine transient tangs that zip all around your mouth.
‘Ceremonial’ cacao. First, we preform no ceremonies nor is there anything inherently mystical, it’s just a name to describe the grade of chocolate. This drink is made with our 100% pure house ground chocolate made simply with hot water. It can be enjoyed with various chocolate doses starting at 20g all the way to 50g. You can add cinnamon or cayenne. At higher doses, you are sure to feel the gentle but steady push of theobromine, like a good wind in your sails. But take it slow, never go higher that 50g, and without working up to those doses can upset your stomach.
We prepare all these at LaRouère maison chocolat at 150 Weldon St., in Moncton, during our opening hours, but you can also enjoy any of these drinks at home. We offer bags of easy-to-use 10g tableya disks that you can melt into your mug of hot water or milk.
Cacao-ccino made with oat milk.